How Alaska Went from Russian Colony to U.S. State

0:01Today on State of the World, with all eyes on Alaska, ahead of President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting there about the war in Ukraine, we revisit the history of how Alaska went from being a Russian colony to a U.S. state.

0:21You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Wednesday, August 13th. I'm Christine Arismath. Ahead of Friday's Alaska summit, Ukrainians are extremely wary, with many fearing they'll be asked to make major concessions. Ukraine's leader isn't even included in the meeting. Neither are any European leaders. So today, Trump and those other leaders met for a virtual summit. At a press conference after that meeting, the leaders of Ukraine and Germany said President Trump agreed that a ceasefire and security guarantees from Russia must be in place before any peace negotiations with Ukraine could begin, and that getting those guarantees should be the priority of Friday's meeting in Alaska.

1:12Russia has a connection to Alaska from the middle of the 19th century. Russia was then deep in debt after losing a war in Crimea. To ease that burden, Russia cut a real estate deal with the U.S. and sold Alaska to the Americans. Fast forward, and Trump and Putin are meeting in Alaska to discuss another difficult and costly Russian war. NPR's Greg Myrie has been following all of this from Ukraine's capital of Kiev. He spoke to All Things Considered's Mary Louise Kelly about why Alaska was chosen as the meeting place for Presidents Trump and Putin.

1:52Greg Myre:The decision seems practical. It's the place where the U.S. and Russia almost meet, separated by just 55 miles of the Bering Strait. But beyond geography, there's also symbolism and a fascinating shared history. Alaska was actually a full-fledged Russian colony. Some Russians are pointing that out on social media, posting photos of Russian Orthodox churches with their onion domes that were built in Alaska in the 19th century. I spoke with Lee Farrow, a history professor at Auburn University at Montgomery and the author of a book on the U.S. purchase of Alaska. Some Americans might know that we bought Alaska from Russia, but they don't know necessarily that it was a real colony there.

2:35It wasn't just a piece of territory that they had sort of stuck a flag in and that they had a strong presence in California as well. And, Greg, how good a deal was this for Russia to sell Alaska? It was then and is now very rich in natural resources.

2:48Greg Myre:Well, not a good deal for the price they got,$7.2 million, which works out to two cents an acre when the Americans bought it in 1867. But the Russians saw it as an expensive outpost they couldn't afford. Russian fur traders had been in Alaska for more than a half century. They had killed off most of the bears and wolves and otters. The Russians didn't see an economic reason to stay. and Alaska was so remote, even for Russia, it was sometimes called Siberia's Siberia. But there are Russians today who think Alaska should be theirs. When Farrell went to Russia and spoke about her book several years ago, she always got the same question.

3:29In every audience, there was at least one person who asked whether or not the United States had legitimately purchased Alaska. There has been a very strong narrative in Russia that we either did not pay for it or it was a lease and we should have returned it already. So interesting. What about the U.S. end of this? How was the purchase viewed here in the U.S. when it took place?

3:51Greg Myre:Critics called it Seward's Folly after Secretary of State William Seward, who negotiated the deal. They said the territory was a frozen wasteland. But Farrow says that description was inaccurate then and now. At the time, the purchase didn't really attract much attention outside of Washington. However, that said, the U.S. government didn't invest much in Alaska, and the relatively few Americans who went there were missionaries or adventurers who were largely on their own. Only decades later did Alaska begin to develop. Gold was discovered in 1896. It became a state in 1959, and large oil reserves were found in the 1950s and 60s.

4:30And in the few seconds we have left, I do want to focus on Crimea. It had But this war in the 1850s, it is still being fought over today. Why is it so contested?

4:39Greg Myre:Yeah, it's a valuable piece of real estate on the Black Sea. Russia fought a war there in the 1850s against the Ottoman Empire, thinking they would win easily, but they didn't. They lost. Fast forward to 2014. Crimea was part of Ukraine, but Putin seized it in an invasion, marking the start of the current war. Ukraine is demanding it back, and it's expected to feature in the Trump-Putin summit this Friday. That's NPR's Greg Myrie. He spoke to Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered. That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.